Credentials

[Tom Watson]

I've been parsing a few threads related to this and thought that I would chime in.

Home Inspectors are a joke. They have tried to credential themselves out of being a joke but they are still a joke.

PE's who have no specific familiarity with residential construction are somewhat less of a joke but are still a bad joke.

AIA guys are sort of like PE guys, if they do not have a background in residential. These guys can really be an expensive joke.

"Designers" are the biggest joke of all and they have several subsets, all of whom have credentialing entities behind them. Some are kitchen designers, some are just general designers, most of them call themselves "Interior Designers" and they all suck.

Inspectors are a really, really bad joke. In the old days these jobs were filled by retired builders and carpenters. That was fine. They shouldn't have changed it. Now we have young'uns who quote the code without understanding. I don't like them.

But they have credentials.

Regards, Tom.

Thos. J. Watson - Cabinetmaker

[Limp Arbor]

Amen brother.

I've bought three houses in the past ten years and all three home inspectors did a bad job.

House #1 Roof sheathing delaminated and sagging - got my $500 back (PA)

House #2 Exterior mortar joints in chimney all but gone - I let it go (NJ)

House #3 Major termite damage to the mud plate and the house had Al/ Cu-clad wiring (NJ)

I hired a lawyer to go after the 3rd guy and did get paid by his insureance company but it is not easy. These guys get some BS certificate from the State (in NJ) and are basically untouchable. There are a few laws in NJ to protect the consumer but they are not well known and of course realtors are not going to tell you anything.

It is almost impossible to even find a lawyer to go after them because there is no money in it. I called at least 15 lawyers and was turned down by all but one. The one that would take it wanted $10K for legal fees and another $10K to hire experts just to get started. Luckily my BIL knew a contract litigator that just left a corporate position and was starting his own practice that would take the case.

Of course it settled before it went to court but the end result was his insurance company paid us. The inspector, a PE, has nothing on his record and no way for anyone to know he is a POS. Maybe he was dropped by his carrier or had his premiums go up but other than that he is still 'golden'.

[mac davis]

I was very lucky to find a good inspector when I was selling houses.. He was a retired County building inspector that had moonlighted as a contractor for years.. Code and construction/wiring/installation problems were found and disclosed with no BS and with a "we can solve these" attitude that I always appreciated..

OTOH, I've been designated an "artist" by a few people, mainly me and my clients, and have no degree or formal training in my field...

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Puckdropper]

Limp Arbor wrote in news:424115e7-be4c-4e35- [e-mail]:

*snip*

When we bought our house last year, the fellow doing the inspection was a contractor that did inspections. I walked through with him, and he pointed out various things that might need addressed or might happen. The water heater was in rough condition, and said we'd have to replace it within a year. Month later, we're getting a new water heater. So, that just goes to show you they're not all bad guys. (This one was excellent, especially for a first time homeowner. He took some time to cover a few major things that might come up like how to shut off the well pump.)

Our biggest problem is a sink hole because of the county required septic replacement. It had to be brought up to code as a condition of sale (theirs, not ours) and now we've got a sink hole in the yard where the old tank wasn't filled in properly.

Puckdropper

[B A R R Y]

The retired contractor I use will not inspect without the buyer present.

No buyer = no inspection